Rachel Johnson's Difficult Women

217. Philippa Langley

This week Rachel is joined by the historian, bestselling author and award-winning producer Philippa Langley, who discovered the remains of Richard III beneath a car park in Leicester back in 2012. Philippa tells Rachel what it was like when her instinct kicked in and she decided to make it her mission to find the King, a moment that inevitably changed her life.

216. Penny East

Penny East is the Chief Executive of the Fawcett Society, the UK’s foremost campaigning charity for women’s rights, working against misogyny. A seasoned charity boss and campaigner, she helped shape the Domestic Abuse Bill 2021 and launched the UK’s first domestic abuse perpetrator programme. Together, Rachel and Penny discuss how the ever changing scene of social media is affecting misogyny, as well as how a disparity in how seriously women's pain is being taken has resulted in their trust in the medical system being damaged.

215. Zoe Strimpel

This week's Difficult Woman is the journalist, author, academic and historian, Zoe Strimpel, whose new book 'Good Slut' argues that women's liberation comes from the intertwined forces of money, power, and sex. Together, Rachel and Zoe discuss the culture of victimhood in conversations around women. They also talk about the rise of open antisemitism in the UK, and Zoe's recent ill-fated visit to a gallery in Margate.

214. Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason

This week Rachel is joined by the writer, speaker and leading advocate for music education: Dr Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason. Matriarch of what The Times has described as ‘Britain's most musical family’, Kadiatu tells Rachel about what it takes to raise seven musical children. Kadiatu and Rachel also discuss the inspiration behind her latest memoir ‘To Be Young, Gifted and Black’, after one of her children read the online abuse her eldest daughter, Isata, received following her solo debut at the BBC Proms.

213. Bryony Gordon

This week Rachel is joined by the journalist, author, broadcaster and podcaster, Bryony Gordon. Having worked at the Telegraph for decades, Bryony is now a Daily Mail columnist and host of 'The Life of Bryony' podcast. She is the author of multiple bestselling memoirs, mother of one, ten years sober, and has a fancy for running marathons in her pants. She manages to do all this alongside a range of activism and advocacy for mental health. Bryony joins Rachel ahead of the release of her debut novel ‘People Pleaser’.